It is our responsibilty to speak for those who can not speak for themselves. If you have found your way this far into this site you must have a love and compassion for your horse. Expand that love to all horses and speak up where there is injustice. There are many organizations who are happy to tell you which causes are worth fighting for, I encourage you to decide for yourself how your individual efforts can best help the world of the equine.
On is page I have included letters(both published and unpublished) and causes I indorse. I have tried to include web sites where you may find helpful information. Things will only change when enough voices are heard.
Premarin What is the Premarin Controvery?
Update! Recent studies have shown women taking Premarin have up to a 300% increase in the risk of experiencing dementia with old age, even if they only used the drug for a short period of time. Also, breast cancer found in women who have taken Premarin tends to be a great deal more aggressive and difficult to treat than that found in women who have not taken the drugs. This is bad news for the thousands of women still taking the drug, but good news for the mares on the line. These shocking studies have deterred many would be premarin users
The fight to free Premarin mares and their foals is one that speaks to my heart. There is a variety of information about Premarin and its sister drugs at premarin.org. Premarin and Prempro along with a few others are popularly used for hormone replacement or estrogen replacement therapies. If you are interested what Wyeth has to say you can visit their site at Premarin.comThe very name premarin comes from its origin of PREnant MAre uRINe. The mares are kept in tiny stalls only 8 ft long by 3 1/2 ft wide by just 5ft high. Many of these mares are warmbloods, larger horses creates more urine. In addition to the small space mares are further restrained by being tied at the front of their "stalls" To increase the concentration of estrogen in the urine the horses are kept underhydrated. And what happens to the foals born from these mares? Some fillies will grow up to follow in their mothers hoofprints and live a short miserable life. Those not committed to life on the "pee" farm are sold at auction. Frequently, they go to kill buyers. A filly has less than a 1 in 10 chance of NOT going to slaughter. For colts odds are even worse, less than 1 in 50 will not go to slaughter. Between 37,000 and 43,000 PMU foals went to slaughter in 1998. In addition to the miserable lives of mares in the production lines of Premarin, the approximately 9 million American women taking it are subjecting themselves to potentially life-threatening side effects. Breast cancer is at the top of the list of currently known "possible" side effects, but there are many others. Wyeth pharmaceuticals has a history of putting profit before safety. You may remember the Fen-phen controversy. Yup, same company. Wyeth also owns Fort Dodge animal health. Many of us use Fort Dodge without knowing the connection. The only way to put an end to the suffering is to hit Wyeth where it hurts, the bank account. Boycott Wyeth and everything they produce! What can you do? If you are currently on an ERT or HRT talk to your doctor and find out if your drug is synthetic or organic. If it is organically based demand to be switched to a synthetic based drug. They have fewer side effect anyways. Or look into a more natural alternative. There are many Soy and plant based supplements on the market today. Talk to your doctor before making changes in your medical care. If you feel the need to take up this cause start on a personal level. Educate those around you. Your mothers, sisters, daughters, co-workers, and fellow horse lovers. I have met many women who had no idea what was involved in the making of Premarin and upon learning of the cruelty that goes into Premarin stopped taking it. The more people you can tell the more people they will tell. 9 million women a year are taking Premarin. If those 9 million are educated and stop taking Premarin then the profits will dry up and these people will go away. On a larger level there are a number of people you can write to : If you are truly concerned about the issue, write to the Canadian Minister of Industry and tell him how you feel. After all, the possible loss of tourism dollars may rival that of Premarine income. (Minister of Industry, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIA 0A6. Or phone: 613/995-9001).
You can also write the Canadian government: Minister, Department of Western Diversification, House of Commons, 418-M Center Block, Ottawa, Ontario KIA 0A6, and the Manitoba government to protest their funding of Ayerst's expansion plans in Canada: Premier of Manitoba, 450 Broadway, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 0V8.
Also write to the Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 23394, Washington, D.C., 20026), and of course the Premarine patent holder, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories (product control), 555 E. Lancaster Avenue, St. David's, PA 19087, 800.666.7248 (and Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, PO Box 8299, Philadelphia, PA 19101).
You may also wish to write to: Director, Women's Health Initiatives, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892. Protest their use of Premarin in women's medical studies.
Alternative Therapies are under attack.
Alternative therapies, including but not limited to massage, are gaining popularity and many vets are not happy about it. I want to start by saying that I am not anti-vetrenarian. My concern only comes with those that are trying to prevent,through publication and legal routes, alternative therapies from being used.
Letter to Equus
Equus Magazine, January 2003, published an article titled "Alternative medicine goes mainstream". My respose to this article was published in the March 2003 issue and is also included below.
My letter to them is as follows: AVMA
1931 N Meacham Rd, Suite 100
Schaumburg, IL 60173-4360.
The proposed revision for NVPA
Dr. Beth Sabin;
The draft revision sec 2 #18 18) generalizes veterinary practice to the extreme that it would seem a pet owner can not ask the lay advice of a fellow pet owner without violating the law. This is still America is it not? The general population is becoming more educated in both their own care and that of their animals, and people have become less dependant on their doctors and vets for advice.
With drug recalls and scandals gaining public attention alternative and supplemental therapies have been gaining popularity at an ever increasing rate. Even common allergy drugs carry a warning of side effects a mile long. Whether from frustration with the limitation of modern medicine or fear of side effects people are seeking another way to keep themselves and their animals healthy. This revision serves only to limit the rights of all pet owners. The drug industry is big business and the public is beginning to figure that out. There have been countless news stories about doctors pushing drugs to boost their profit margin, people have lost faith in conventional medicine and begun looking for a safer more cost effective way to treat their pets. So vets are losing financial ground to herbs and other alternatives. The only service this revision can provide is to fill the wallets of vets who have not educated themselves about the benefits of noninvasive, “alternative” therapies. For most “alternative” therapists the first question asked of an owner is “what does the vet say?” We are not seeking to eliminate or exclude trained veterinary practice, only to continue to provide the service our clients have of their own educated free will sought out. My greatest concern is the over generalization of the definition of “veterinary medicine”. It is common practice, and has been as long as there have been horses in barns, for horse owners to seek the advice of other horse owners on matters of training, health, and the general well-being of their pets. It is the same at any dog park, people sharing information. The broad generalization of this revision would make even that advice illegal. What could be next? Petting an animal and grooming it often provides a calming effect and may alter an animal’s mental state. Will people be required to attend veterinary school before petting a horse or dog? What about barn managers who clean and wrap minor cuts and scrapes acquired in normal pasture play or grooms who give horses a good rub-down after a workout? Will they too fall into the category of practicing veterinary medicine? What if I buy a de-wormer from the local feed store and administer it to my horse, would I then be practicing veterinary medicine? The definition is just far too vague.
Legislation should not be enacted unless there is harm caused by a lack of regulation. Where is the harm being done? I have not heard of a single case of an animal being harmed as a result of a noninvasive therapy. The greatest protest I have heard from most veterinarians is that “it doesn’t work”. Even if this were the case, we live in a highly pragmatic society. Things that do not work do not last very long. Many of the alternative therapies you seek to regulate have not only been in use for centuries but have rapidly gained popularity because individuals have seen results. No one is being harmed by the use or lack of regulation of these therapies as veterinary medicine, except maybe the bank accounts of drug companies. Some drugs do not work for all patients; I have yet to see a law passed restricting companies to sell only the drugs that are 100 % effective. If that were the case there would be far fewer options for headache or allergy relief.
In addition, it would seem logical that animal medicine should parallel human medicine. Being that the FDA has thus far been unsuccessful at the regulation, and thus cost increase, of herbs, vitamins, and supplements, it makes little sense that the regulation of administering such herbs and supplements to animals would be more constricting. And what happens when pet owners can not afford veterinary care? Unlike human patients, animals without enough cash are turned away at the door. Then what, they live or die in pain? Massage, acupressure, chiropractic, and other alternative therapies can both prevent and alleviate an animals suffering, often at far less cost to the owner. Consulting a vet should remain the owner’s first line of protection for their animal’s health and well being, but what happens when veterinary medicine falls short? For some conditions the only thing vets can offer is large quantities of drugs or euthanasia. People are entitled to the right to decide what is best for their pets. Including alternative therapies under the rightfully strict regulation of veterinary medicine will only raise the cost of providing such therapies, if it does not prohibit alternative therapy all together.
The short comings of modern medicine are why people have turned to alternative therapies for themselves and their pets. Including noninvasive alternative therapies under the broadened definition of veterinary medicine serves only to greatly limit the pet owners rights and put those who provide such therapies out of business. If we can not provide our services to animals in pain who will? I highly doubt veterinary schools will expand their already packed curriculum to include massage, herbal, chiropractic, and acupressure therapies, just to name a few. The expansion of the definition of veterinary medicine to the extreme that is outlined in this revision can serve only to undermine the health and wellbeing of animals everywhere.
Thank you,
Kristianna Dorst, CESMT
To increase the concentration of estrogen in the urine the horses are kept underhydrated. And what happens to the foals born from these mares? Some fillies will grow up to follow in their mothers hoofprints and live a short miserable life. Those not committed to life on the "pee" farm are sold at auction. Frequently, they go to kill buyers. A filly has less than a 1 in 10 chance of NOT going to slaughter. For colts odds are even worse, less than 1 in 50 will not go to slaughter. Between 37,000 and 43,000 PMU foals went to slaughter in 1998. In addition to the miserable lives of mares in the production lines of Premarin, the approximately 9 million American women taking it are subjecting themselves to potentially life-threatening side effects. Breast cancer is at the top of the list of currently known "possible" side effects, but there are many others. Wyeth pharmaceuticals has a history of putting profit before safety. You may remember the Fen-phen controversy. Yup, same company. Wyeth also owns Fort Dodge animal health. Many of us use Fort Dodge without knowing the connection. The only way to put an end to the suffering is to hit Wyeth where it hurts, the bank account. Boycott Wyeth and everything they produce!